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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

B. S. BAYLESS.

MAIL BAG.

No. 586,720. Patented July 20,1897.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2. B. S. BAYLESS. MAIL BAG.

No. 586,720. Patented July 20,1897.

@y e y lhvirnn Sra rns Parent OFFICE.

BENJAMIN BAYLESS, OF ABERDEEN, MARYLAND, ASSIGNOR ()F ONE- HALF TO SAMUEL S. JAY, OF SAME PLACE.

MAIL-BAG.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 586,720,

dated July 20, 1897.

Application filed April 29, 1896. Serial No.- 589,573. (No model.)

To all whom it rim/g concern.-

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN S. BAYLESS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aberdeen, in the county of llarford and State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful Mail-Bag, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in mail-bags.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of mail-bags and to provide simple, inexpensive, and efficient means adapted to close securely the mouth of a bag and capable of enabling the same to be conveniently handled and readily fastened and unfastened.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a mail-bag constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view illustrating the arrangement of the parts before the central flap is folded over the corner flaps. Fig. 3 is a side view of the mail-bag, the parts being unfastened. Fig. & is atransverse sectional view, the parts being arranged as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the mouthopening of the bag.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

1 designates a mailbag or pouch having an extension or upper portion 2, preferably constructed of leather, having straight upper edges forming the mouth of the bag and provided with substantially diagonally-disposed creases forming triangular corner flaps 3, adapted to be folded centrally to close the mouth of the bag or pouch. One side of the extension 2 is provided on its exterior with a centrally-arranged keeper or staple 4, rigidly secured to an attachment-plate 5, and the corner flaps are provided with slots or openings (3 and are reinforced by inner and outer plates, the outer plates of the side of the extension adjacent to the staple or keeper being beveled at the slots or openings to facilitate inserting the staple or keeper therein. The slots or openings of the triangular corner flaps are disposed transversely of the bag or pouch before the flaps are folded, and the folding of the ilaps arranges the slots longitudinally of the bag or pouch and causes them to register at the staple or keeper 4:.

In fastening or looking the mail bag or pouch the corner flaps 3 are folded over the central portion of the extension, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 of the accompanying drawings, the side of the extension 2 carrying the staple or keeper it is slit or cut longitudinally at the mouth of the bag at 8 to increase the fold of the corner flaps and to provide a pair of central rectangular flaps 11 and 12, and the opposite side of the bag is similarly slit or cut and is provided with a separate central oblong flap 9, which is adapted to be folded over the corner flaps and which carries a lock 10 for engaging the keeper or staple. The front rectangular flap or portion 11 formed by the slits or cuts 8 is preferably folded within the mouth of the bag or pouch in fastening the latter, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 3 of the accompanying drawings. The rear rectangular flap 12 has the oblong flap 9 riveted to it, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.

XVhen the bag is open, the straight upper edges of its month are all arranged in the same plane.

The lock 10, which is mounted on the central flap 9, is provided at the inner side of the latter with an opening to receive the staple or keeper, and it is adapted to engage the staple or keeper to confine the flaps in their closed position.

It will be seen that the mailbag is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily manipulated to fasten and unfasten it, and that when locked its mouth is securely closed.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

\Vhat I claim is A mail-bag having straight edges at its mouth arranged in the same plane when it is IOC open, and provided at the front and back With tabs 11 and 12 formed by slitting the edges of the bag at both the front and back as at 8, the flexible flap 9 attached to the rear tab 12 and carrying a lock, the creased corner flaps 3, provided with openings 6, and a keeper on the outside of the bag, said mouth being closed by folding the front tab 11 Within the bag, then folding down the corner flaps to to cause all of the openings 6 to register, and

finally folding the tab 12 and the flap 9 over the keeper, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

J. A. SWINGLEY, R. E. IIoPKINs. 

